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Research group Sustainable Urban Development

Challenges in cities

More than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this trend is increasing. Urban areas are particularly responsible for CO2 and other emissions that are harmful to the environment and health. Therefore, cities are currently facing a variety of challenges, such as energy and transportation transition, social conflicts, climate protection, and climate adaptation. In order to achieve the climate protection and sustainability goals set by the German government and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities,” profound changes and innovative solutions are needed.

Interdisciplinarity as an important added value

Such challenges cannot be solved by a single discipline or academia alone, but must be addressed in a transdisciplinary manner. First, this requires effective interdisciplinary cooperation between actors from the scientific community. However, such cooperation does not happen automatically: it is necessary to open up disciplinary routines, come together as an interdisciplinary team, and develop together. 

Establishing the research group

The aim is therefore to establish an interdisciplinary research group on sustainable urban development at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da), thereby pooling existing expertise within h_da. Drawing on insights from the science of cross-disciplinary team science, the group is developing a common understanding of the problem and testing different methods of interdisciplinary collaboration. This creates a solid foundation for joint research projects.

Team

Prof. Dr. Daniel Feser

Research focus

  • Innovation systems
  • Innovations for sustainable development
  • Sustainability Transitions

Department: Social Sciences
https://fbgw.h-da.de/fachbereich/personen/dr-daniel-feser

 

Max Frankenberger, M. Eng.

Research focus

  • Sustainable transport systems
  • Traffic experiments

Department: Civil and environmental engineering

Prof. Dr. Birte Frommer

Research focus

  • Spatial and environmental planning
  • Climate protection and climate adaptation through planning processes

Department: Civil and environmental engineering

Julia Hahn, M.Sc.

Research focus

  • Environmental psychology
    • Environmental friendly & adaptive behavior in organisations

Department: Social Sciences

Prof. Dr. Daniel Hanss

Research focus

  • Environmental protection
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Adoption of innovations for sustainable development
  • Efficacy beliefs
  • Social transformations for sustainable development

Department: Social Sciences

https://fbgw.h-da.de/fachbereich/personen/professorinnen/prof-dr-daniel-hanss

 

 

 

Prof. Dr. Ingo Jeromin

Research focus

  •     Electric power supply
  •     Renewable energies
  •    Smart Grids

Department: Electrical engineering and information technology

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sven Linow

Research focus

  • Transformation of the energy system
    • Didactic (three textbooks published by Hanser)
    • Regional (e.g., collaboration with the Office for Climate Protection and Climate Adaptation in Darmstadt)
    • Long-term and broader in scope (negative CO2 emissions, hydrogen)

Department: Mechanical engineering and polymer engineering

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8354-3710

 

 

 

Julia Mohr, M. Eng.

Research focus

  • Circular economy and waste management
  • Life cycle assessment

Department: Civil and environmental engineering

Jestashree Mullur Guruswamy, M.Sc.

Research focus

  • E-micromobility
  • Sustainable urban Transportation
  • Superblocks interventions
  • Agent based simulation

Department: Economics

Janis Nold, M. Sc.

Research focus

  • Sustainable mobility (in rural areas)
  • Climate impacts in public transport
  • Intermodality and multimodality

Department: Electrical engineering and information technology

Dr. Eszter Tóth

Research focus

  • Collaborative urban development
  • Children‘s participation
  • Design research
  • Real world labs

Department: Economics

Anna Wasmer, M.A.

Research focus

  • Sustainable urban and regional planning
  • Small-town research
  • Inter- und transdisciplinary perspectives on sustainability

Department: Civil and environmental engineering

Prof. Dr. Axel Wolfermann

Research focus

  • Transportation planning and engineering with a focus on urban transportation
  • Sustainability in transportation, mobility transition, climate protection
  • Bicycle traffic planning

Department: Civil and environmental engineering

https://fbbu.h-da.de/fachbereich/personen/wolfermann-axel